Time Warp
by redwitch3
Summary: Hermione ends up in the MWPP time & has to cope with her burgeoning feelings & the strain of knowing more than she'd like. HGSB and HGRL, Don't know the final couple. ABANDONED as not OotP compliant and not happy writing them so out of character.
1. Oops!

A/N – If you just want the story feel free to skip this. But don't flame me unless you've read it!

As a rule I don't do author notes but this is just a quick one to say that this is a reworking of a story that I started about three years ago and then had to change dramatically to incorporate information from OotP.

I have changed Remus' and Sirius' characters to fit more with those portrayed in the later books.

However, I have left Lily's character as it was in my original version. This is for a couple of reasons.

I hate rewrites. It would have meant much more work for me to change Lily's character and I would have lost some scenes that I really enjoyed writing and that I am very pleased with.

I like the Lily that I've written. A lot. I really like the character as J K Rowling has written her, but I really enjoy writing her this way. If you really can't stand OOC Lily then perhaps this isn't the right story for you to be reading.

While I respect the opinions of others, I am writing this story for myself. I love the fact that people enjoyed the first version and am thankful to everyone who reviewed. I also appreciate that a lot of people felt the story didn't need changing. I tried to continue with what I had, but it felt wrong and as soon as I reworked it I found that my writer's block dissipated (a little – it still rears it's head occasionally!)

If you have any questions, suggestions, comments, etc. please review. I really appreciate constructive criticism. I may not heed it but I do appreciate it.

Disclaimer: If they were mine then the whole series would have gone quite differently. JK Rowling is the woman lucky enough to own these guys, I'm just borrowing them.

Time Warp

_Chapter 1 – "Ooops!"_

As Hermione watched Sirius and Buckbeak soar away into the night it hit her. This was so wrong, so cruel and unfair.

The journey back to the hospital wing was like a dream, barely thinking Hermione sat in the bed next to Harry's. As the hours passed she sat, going over the night's activities in her head again and again, fiddling with her necklace subconsciously, wondering what they could have done differently. As the sun began to rise she glanced down at her hand, only now realising that the necklace she had been playing with, for the past god-knows-how-long, was not a necklace at all. It was the Time-turner.

As she placed it back under her top she felt the familiar pull she now knew so well, the feeling of Time speeding past, speeding backwards. When she realised that in the past few hours she must have turned the device countless times, she was filled with dread.

With a jolt she reached her destination. First she checked her robes for her wand, finding it she then glanced quickly around, sighing with relief; at least she recognised her surroundings. She was at Hogwarts. But the question plaguing her mind wasn't 'where was she?', but '_when_ was she?'

After spending another hour peering out of the broom closet she had chosen as her hiding place, Hermione finally saw the one person in the world that she most wanted to talk to.

"Professor Dumbledore!" Hermione shouted as she came barrelling out of the cupboard. "I desperately need to speak to you professor, it's of the utmost urgency."

Dumbledore paused for a moment, glancing at the young girl in front of him, before replying, "I suggest we adjourn to my office then. A matter of such importance as this needs, I assume, privacy. And tea."

Once Dumbledore and Hermione were settled in Dumbledore's office, the headmaster – looking considerably younger than he had the last time Hermione had seen him – paused for a moment before speaking.

"Perhaps we should begin at the beginning? May I ask your name?" Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he watched the bushy-haired teen gape at him in shock. After a pause she replied, stuttering throughout.

"Y…y…you mean you…you don't kn…know. I m…mean it's…it's Hermione. Hermione Granger." Silently Hermione sat thinking, What am I going to do now? I must have gone back over three years if Dumbledore doesn't know me! Now I'm in trouble!

"Well Miss Granger. As I am sure you are dying to know, judging from both your confusion and that contraption hanging around your neck (At this Hermione automatically grasped the Time-Turner, looking guiltily at the headmaster) …I do not know you…yet. The date is August 28th 1973 (Hermione gasped at this.) and, I am assuming that this is not the date you expected to hear. May I ask you something Miss Granger?"

Hermione nodded her head dumbly, barely managing to stop herself from either screaming or bursting into tears.

Dumbledore paused for a moment, then his soft voice penetrated the silence of the room. "Miss Granger, what date should it be today?"

Hermione lowered her head and whispered the date. Dumbledore missed the day and month but it was of no consequence as he managed to catch the year. 1998.

The conversation continued as Hermione relayed the story of the past year, leaving out as much information as possible so as to give Dumbledore simply a brief description of how she got the Time-Turner and ended up travelling back 27 years.

As she reached the end of her story, Dumbledore paused to take it all in before starting, "I take it that, considering you are still here rather than in your own time, you do not know how to move forward in time?"

"No sir, I don't."

"Unfortunately Miss Granger, neither do I. Time travel is a very dangerous type of magic, even in the hands of the most honest, careful wizard or witch. This is why the ministry takes such strict control over objects such as Time-Turners. It is also why further investigation into the subject has been banned for many years now. Naturally I shall attempt to find a way to send you back. However this may take a great deal of time and therefore I feel the best course of action would be to enrol you here and have you continue your education in preparation for the worst-case scenario. Do you agree?"

"Yes sir."

"I'm afraid there's no more room in the fourth year so I'll have to place you in the fifth year. I know a student of your calibre should be able to cope but you'll be given extra classes to catch up."

"Thank you sir."

That evening Hermione was introduced to Hagrid and a few of the staff members that had already arrived. Dumbledore told them that she was called Mya Carlson and that she was the niece of one of Dumbledore's friends. The story went that Mya's parents had recently died in a car crash and due to various circumstances, she had been placed in Dumbledore's care until her aunt and uncle were in a position to take her in.

On the first day of school, Hagrid took Hermione into London to Diagon Alley where, courtesy of Dumbledore, she acquired all the things she would need for the school year. (Second hand of course, as the headmaster had limited funds himself.)

Then, when Hagrid dropped her at Kings Cross, she made her way to the Hogwarts Express.

Arriving relatively early, Hermione found a seat at the end of the train in an empty carriage. Not long after the train had set off, a group of four boys bounded into the carriage. When they saw her they stopped, stared and then all started talking at once, continuing whatever conversation they had been involved in earlier. As they sat on the opposite side of the compartment to Hermione, she sat in silence, secretly studying the group. It didn't take long for her to workout who her fellow students were. The guy with glasses and scruffy hair could only be one person – James Potter. The shortest and chubbiest of the group must be Peter Pettigrew, which just left the other two. Both were tall, well built, with dark brown hair. One had short hair, soft but well cared for. While the other boy's was slightly longer, down to his ears, shaggy and it gave him a distinct I-just-rolled-out-of-bed look. However, she couldn't tell which was Sirius and which was Remus. Suddenly, her question was answered. The boy with the shaggy hair rose from his seat and approached her slowly, a confident smile gracing his features.

"Hi." He began, "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sirius Black and this noisy bunch consists of James Potter, Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin." As he introduced the group she was greeted by smiles, waves and in James' case, a cocky wink. Blushing, Hermione replied, "Hi, I'm Mya Carlson."

"So Mya Carlson, what's the story? How come you're joining us so late? Cos I know you can't be a first year."

Hermione proceeded to tell Sirius the story she and Dumbledore had prepared, explaining that she'd had to transfer to Hogwarts from a school in America when her parents had died.

The boys were very sympathetic when they heard this news and by the time the train reached Hogwarts, Hermione had four new friends.

The next few hours were a blur. She was once again sorted by the sorting hat who automatically shouted

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Then she was introduced to the rest of her new house. The boys insisted she sit with them and she was stuck in between Remus and Sirius.

As she glanced around the table she noticed a quiet 3rd year with long Auburn hair glancing longingly down the table at James. That must be Harry's mum Lily Evans.

Hermione thought. As she stared at the young girl, suddenly Lily turned to meet her eyes. Hermione quickly looked down before turning her attention back to the boys on either side of her.

After a few minutes more of Sirius' amusing tales of the various tricks that he had played on 'Slimy Sev' – one of the Slytherin Fifth years, Hermione felt something touch her foot. Moving her eyes across the table she saw James, who gave her a cheeky grin. Hermione quickly rose from the table, saying "who is gonna give me the tour then?"

She was suddenly bombarded with cries of "I will!" from Peter, James and Sirius. Feeling a desperate need to escape all of the highly unusual male attention, she turned to Remus, who had hardly said a thing all through dinner.

"Remus, why don't you show me around?"

Looking up in surprise, he also left his chair, saying "Uhm, okay then?"

The two of them left the hall while the other boys stared after them, their faces filled with shock, jealousy and a lot of disappointment.


	2. Settling In

Chapter 2 – Settling In 

Hermione's walk around the castle with Remus was the first time in days that she'd felt comfortable. Unlike James' and Sirius' constant flirting, Remus kept a calm pace and interesting conversation.

Rather than over-whelming her with stories of cruel jokes and exciting adventures, Remus spoke mostly of the school in general. As people passed by he filled her in on who was who, what they were like and finished every introduction with an amusing anecdote about them.

By the time they had to return to the common room, Hermione decided that she'd never had as much fun except with Harry and Ron. As they began the journey back to Gryffindor tower, Hermione asked Remus about the rest of the boys.

"What are they like?"

"Well," he began thoughtfully. "First there's James. He's like the ringleader. Brilliant at Quidditch, everyone loves him. A really fun guy. Then Sirius, possibly the biggest flirt in the school, a total charmer. But he's not conceited or arrogant. Just extremely confidant. Peter is the joker. He doesn't really have any other friends but he's always funny. I think really it's because he's not outgoing or sporty or especially intelligent. He's so average that he makes up for it by cracking us up 24/7." Then as an afterthought, he added, "and there's me. That's it. That's the gang."

"Well don't stop there! Who are you? What are you like?"

Unfortunately at that point they had reached the fat lady outside the entrance to the common room. Pretending tonot have heard her, Remus muttered the password.

"Well, here we are." He said, gesturing for her to enter first.

As she entered the room she vaguely noted how similar it was to the room she was used to. But her mind was still focused on the boy behind her. It was horrifying to think that this sweet, quiet, selfless boy would one day lose all of his closest friends. And all because of the actions of a person he currently considered to be 'a bit of a joker.' She felt a sudden desperate need to tell Remus everything but was stopped due to a sudden bombardment of her fellow Gryffindors.

"Mya, come play chess with me!"

"Fancy a game of exploding snap?"

"Want to go for a walk?"

The last request was practically a whisper. Hermione turned to see the speaker. It was Sirius. Suddenly he grabbed her hand, dragged her to a corner of the room hidden from view before he flung a cloak over them.

"Don't freak out." He muttered, "it's an invisibility cloak. I nicked it off of James."

"Sirius…" Hermione began.

"Shhh! Don't talk until we're outside."

Suddenly the door opened and Peter slowly entered the room. As Sirius and Hermione quietly exited the room, Peter whispered, "Have fun. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

As they moved away from the common room, Hermione noticed how close she was to Sirius. After 5 minutes, she finally asked, "Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise." He muttered, but as they continued he slipped his arm through hers, gave her hand a squeeze and smiled reassuringly at her.

After a further 5 minutes, most of which consisted of climbing staircase after staircase, they finally reached their destination.

"This is the top of the highest tower. I love coming up here at night to look at the stars and just think."

"It's beautiful!" Hermione breathed.

"But for once, it's not the most beautiful sight up here." Sirius said, very quietly, but still loudly enough for Hermione to catch what he'd said. "Mya." He paused, as if trying to pluck up courage to do some daring act.

"Every year we have a Halloween ball. Now I know it's not for a couple of months but I don't want to leave this until the last minute." He paused again, before rushing out, " willyougototheballwithme?"

Crap! My best friend's godfather just asked me out! Calm down Hermione. It's fine. You probably won't even be here then. I'm sure Dumbledore will get you home really soon. What harm can it do?

As she turned to Sirius she noticed a look of extreme disappointment on his face.

"It's fine, you don't have to say yes. I know that you've not been here very long and you could choose anyone you want so…"

"Sirius stop babbling." Hermione interrupted gently. "Of course I'll go with you."

The young boy's face lit up and as he ran his hand through his hair he replied excitedly, "Really? Oh thank you so much! We're gonna have the best time. This is brilliant, I could just…"

With that he broke off, grabbed Hermione's arms and gave her the most passionate kiss she'd ever experienced. Well to be fair it was the only kiss she'd ever experienced but as she felt Sirius' soft lips on hers, everything disappeared. Past, Present and Future all faded away as she hungrily attacked his mouth.

Minutes passed by unnoticed and as they finally parted, lips swollen and out of breath, the only sound Hermione could manage was "Wow."

"You can say that again." Sirius murmured huskily.

"Wow." Hermione giggled.

"I suppose we'd better get back." Sirius suggested, sounding as if it was the absolute last thing he wanted to do. "You don't want rumours to start up less than 24 hours since you got here."

"I guess you're right." Hermione conceded.

So silently they wandered back, Siirus' arm wrapped round Hermione's waist.

When they reached the common room it was empty, so, finally free of the invisibility cloak, they stood at the bottom of the stairs that led to the girls' dormitories.

"Goodnight, My Mya." Sirius whispered, as he gently kissed her lips and then each eyelid in turn. "Sweet dreams." He finished, waiting as she backed slowly up the stairs.

She replied, "Goodnight Sirius."

When she was finally out of sight, he made his way back to his own dormitory, floating on air, ready for a night full of his own sweet dreams.

When Hermione woke up the next morning, memories of the previous day's events came flooding back. Sleepily she muttered to herself, "Bugger. Now what am I going to do?"

"Well I would suggest getting dressed and going to breakfast."

She quickly turned her head to the door, where the very masculine voice had come from, to be greeted by the sight of a very serious looking Remus.

"You've only got 20 minutes before lessons start. It's Defence Against the Dark Arts first. Plus," he paused. Hermione noticed a very strange look cross his face. "Sirius is waiting for you." With that Remus turned on his heel and stalked off.

Weird Hermione thought as she began to hurriedly wash and dress. 5 minutes later she was entering the great hall.


	3. New Friends, New Enemies

_Chapter 3 – New Friends, New Enemies_

As Hermione walked towards the Gryffindor table she studied the four boys in front of her. Peter was obviously telling James a joke of some kind as she heard James' deep throaty laugh echo along the wall. Sirius was unusually quiet, seemingly caught up in his own thoughts. Probably thinking about last night she assumed.

The most confusing sight was Remus. Yet again he was sitting quietly, saying nothing. But there was a look of severe disappointment on his face. He looks as if he's lost his best friend! Hermione thought as she finally reached the table. The only seat left was between Remus and the redhead that Hermione assumed was Lily. As she seated herself, Hermione turned to Remus.

"Thank you for waking me". She muttered shyly.

"Not a problem." He replied quietly, before turning back to his breakfast, signalling the conversation to be over.

Hmm. How polite. she thought sarcastically. I wonder what's up with him Hermione decided not to broach the subject as Remus obviously wasn't in a talkative mood. Instead, she turned to the girl on her left.

"Hello." She began. "I'm Mya Carson."

The red head turned to her in shock, apparently unused to being spoken to by anyone, let alone by students 2 years above her.

"Hi." She replied nervously. "I'm Lily Evans."

Ha! Knew it! Hermione thought.

After a pregnant pause, Lily continued, "So how are you enjoying Hogwarts so far?" She asked.

"It's very nice." Hermione replied. "But I am missing female company. It appears that I'm the only Gryffindor girl in my year." So what if I usually avoid female company. New name, new person. And Harry'd kill me if I missed this opportunity to get to know his mum.

"I know what you mean." Lily replied. "There's 4 other Gryffindor girls in my year. But 2 of them are twins and

the other 2 knew each other before we got here." Lily paused before continuing. "If you'd like, I could show you around Hogsmeade. The first weekend into town is in a couple of weeks and, as you haven't been before… If you want to that is. I'm sure the boys will probably want to show you around but…" she stopped there, unsure of what to say next.

Jumping in Hermione replied, "I'd love to go to Hogsmeade with you. I don't plan on spending all of my time with a bunch of boys!"

Lily smiled and began to talk excitedly about almost everything she knew about Hogwarts. Breakfast flew by and before she knew it, Hermione had to leave her new friend and begin her first day of lessons.

First period – Defence against the Dark Arts.

Professor Bumbry, the current DADA teacher, was a kindly old wizard who was due to retire the previous year. However, upon Dumbledore's request, he agreed to stay another year until a replacement was found. While Hermione quickly declared Bumbry to be the kindest teacher she'd ever met (next to Lupin of course), at nearly 85 years of age, he had held the position throughout 5 decades, which was probably why Dumbledore refused to let him go, despite the fact that his memory had ceased to work a full 15 years before.

Hermione spent the next hour taking her usual, highly detailed notes. This caused something of a stir between the four boys seated around her, who were unused to the idea of someone not only paying attention to Bumbry's class, but also seemingly enjoying the concept greatly.

As the lesson drew to a close, Bumbry announced a new project. A presentation was to be made, in pairs, on one of the creatures due to be studied that year. This would allow the students to begin each new module with a fair amount of background knowledge.

As Hermione glanced around the class upon Bumbry's request to partner up, she realised that there was a basic flaw in her new friendship group. This flaw being that 5 most decidedly did not divide evenly into 2. Ah.

Fortunately, Hermione was not the only Gryffindor to notice this problem and to save her from being stuck sitting with someone she didn't know, Remus turned to Sirius and said "Siri, Why don't you go and work with Georgia while I work with Mya. Pete can work with James can't you Pete?"

Hermione looked gratefully at Remus as he moved next to her.

Giving her a cautious smile he asked Hermione, "So any ideas?"

Thinking quickly Hermione realised that this would be the perfect opportunity to really get to know Remus.

"Werewolves."

He looked up at her in shock. "W…W…Werewolves" He stuttered, losing his calm composed attitude for the first time since she'd met him.

"Yes." Hermione replied firmly. "I wanna look at what they are really like. I mean, they are human for all but a few nights each month. It would be interesting to find out more about the effects lycanthropy has on the humans it affects."

Remus grinned uneasily, "sure, why not."

Hermione would've giggled if it weren't for the fact that Remus looked so uncomfortable. He was obviously trying very hard to appear normal and unfazed. If she didn't know what the problem was, she might not have even noticed.

"Great. So do ya wanna get started on it tonight? We could go to the library after dinner."

Remus seemed to have calmed himself by that point and replied "sure sounds like fun. Say seven thirty?"

"Okay then."

As she gathered her books Hermione glanced up and stared straight into a pair of dark Brown eyes.

"You should watch who you spend your time with. Certain people here have a knack for causing trouble. If you're not careful you could end up in a lot of trouble as well, mudblood." As the boy practically spat out that last word he suddenly went flying to the floor. Hermione looked up in shock to see who had caused the very young version of Snape to hit the ground so hard.

"Remus!" she gasped slightly as he stood glaring at the boy on the floor.

"Stay away from her Snape. And while you're at it, stay out of my sight." Remus turned to Hermione and took her books from her. "Come on Mya. He's the last person you want to be talking to round here."

Totally shocked by such uncharacteristic behaviour on the part of the werewolf Hermione followed Remus out of the classroom. Behind her she heard Snape shout, "I warned you mudblood, Hang around with trash like that if you want, but you'd better watch your back!"

"Remus…" Hermione began.

"Don't thank me. Just stay away from him. Snape is the biggest bastard in the school. If Sirius knew you were talking to him he'd flip."

"And you didn't flip! You floored him! What if a professor had been walking past? What if Bumbry had come out of his office? That was so stupid, I could have handled it."

"Yeah you seemed to be handling it pretty well sat there like a bloody statue!"

"Well the last thing I needed was you to butt in. Trust me, I can handle Snape."

"You've never even met him before! You have no idea what he is capable of, and not just because he's a Slytherin."

Hermione had to pause for a moment and calm herself down before she let something slip that she shouldn't.

"Whatever. Lets just go to Charms."

Remus glanced at the girl walking next to him as she frowned in concentration. She was definitely a strange one. One moment she was quiet, calm and intelligent, the next she was yelling at him in the middle of the corridor just because he helped her to get away from Snape. While she seemed to be quite confused at the attention the other guys were giving her, she still flirted shamelessly with Sirius before becoming uncomfortable when he flirted back. Not that he was watching her or anything. He was just keeping an eye out for his friend's sake. Wasn't he?


	4. Advantages & Disadvantages of Flirting

Chapter 4 – The advantages and disadvantages of flirting 

By the end of the day Hermione was knackered. As she sat down to dinner she pulled out her Arithmancy textbook, planning on reading over the chapter they'd studied today. She hadn't heard from Dumbledore yet about extra tutoring and as she'd basically skipped a years worth of lessons there were a lot of basic principles she needed to look up. The work was quite advanced and this meant that for once Hermione was not gonna have time to spend running around getting involved in mysteries with Ron and Harry.

Not that that's gonna be a problem, seeing as how they're not here. Hermione thought sadly, missing her two best friends for what was about the fiftieth time that day.

"Hello gorgeous." A deep, familiar voice whispered into her ear. As she turned to look at Sirius he noticed the book in front of her.

"What _are_ you doing?" He asked incredulously. "It's dinner time! That means that school is finished for the day and we get to relax and eat. Not study!"

Hermione grinned slightly at the horrified look on the young man's face, it reminded her so much of the looks Ron would give her whenever she mentioned homework.

"Look the courses here are far more difficult than at my old school, and I've missed a lot of stuff as we didn't cover it last year, but you guys did."

"Well that's no excuse. It's bad enough that you're encouraging Remus' lunacy by agreeing to study in the evenings, I don't think we should let this obsessive ness transfer to mealtimes as well!"

"Fine." Hermione conceded, putting her book away so as to avoid another heated discussion on how she was too much of a swot. Harry wasn't here to back her up this time. Not that he was much use at backing me up anyway!

"So Remus, what's with the pissed off look? The rhubarb crumble not going down as well as it should?" Sirius joked, causing a snigger from Peter.

Remus grinned bitterly before replying, "No, just another run in with Snape."

Sirius' face darkened at the mention of that name. "What's Snivellus been up to now then?"

Hermione looked closely at Remus. Although she knew she had done nothing wrong and in fact, very little had happened, she had a very strong feeling that Sirius would not see things that way. Remus met her eyes, gave a slight sigh and replied,

"Just the usual, living, breathing."

At that James turned briefly away from the blonde sixth year he was busy chatting up and remarked, "well someone needs to do something about that, awful behaviour, shouldn't be allowed." The girl giggled as James then turned and started whispering in her ear.

Hermione glanced quickly at Lily, who had just entered the hall. As the young girls noticed James' behaviour the smile on her face froze and woodenly she walked past the object of her unrequited affections, taking a seat next to Hermione.

"Hi Mya, had a good first day?" the young girl asked with false cheer.

"Not bad, the work here is far more difficult than I'd expected, but other than that no complaints."

"Who's your friend Mya?" Sirius asked, looking briefly at Lily as though trying to place a name but not managing.

"Sirius this is Lily!" Hermione was slightly shocked that he didn't know the name of someone that was in his own house. "She's in the third year."

Finally recognition crossed the boy's face. "Oh right, Evans. You tried out for the Quidditch team last year. You weren't a bad flyer. Needed to work on your quaffle handling a bit though."

Lily blushed a bit and replied, "well I was never gonna be as good as some of the people on the team. I just thought playing Quidditch looked like fun."

This got quite a reaction from James, as he abandoned the girl he'd been flirting with to jump into a conversation about his favourite sport.

"Playing Quidditch is more than just FUN. It's amazing! I mean seriously…"

"Uh oh" Remus remarked quietly

"…the feeling that you get, the wind blowing around you, people chasing after you, the crowd cheering, and finally, when you approach that goal…"

At this point Remus and Sirius joined in with him.

"…and you just know that this is it, your gonna be the one who wins, that keeper hasn't got a chance because you're in the zone and no-one can stop you."

James looked around confused as the people nearest him, including Remus, Sirius, Hermione and Lily burst into laughter.

"Have I said that before?"

"Just once or twice mate, just once or twice." Sirius chuckled, an amused smile on his face.

James didn't look the least embarrassed, he turned to look at Lily and told her, "well that's what you get for saying that Quidditch is 'fun'. You should come play with us some time. We like to have the occasional throw around but we could organise a mini match if you really wanna learn what it's like, er." James gave Lily a look as if to say 'what's your name?' but the girl seemed to have frozen at the realisation that James Potter was talking to her!

"Sorry, James this is Lily Evans, Lily, James Potter" Hermione then winked at Lily conspiratorially before dragging Remus to the library to leave the two Quidditch fans to get to know each other. "Sirius." She called, "Why don't you come with, give us a hand?"

Sirius looked at Hermione confused before noticing the significant glances that she was giving him and James and Lily.

"Oh, right, yeah, uhm, sure I'll come help. See ya James!" But he received no answer as James was caught up talking animatedly to the redhead that had moved into Hermione's place as he moved into Remus'

As the three of them exited the hall Hermione burst into giggles, whilst the two boys on either side of her stared in shock and amusement.

"I think she's lost it." Remus said to his friend.

"Well this is certainly a different Mya Carlson to the one we met yesterday Moony."

"I agree Padfoot, playing matchmaker…"

"Making out with guys she's only just…"

"Yelling in the halls…"

"What do you mean yelling in the halls/making out with guys." They both asked in shock. Before turning to the girl before them, who'd finally calmed down but was still grinning at the scene she'd just witnessed between the two of them.

"Oh come on guys. Let's go do some work."

Hermione then joined arms with both of them and pulled them towards the library as they both looked over her head at each other, questioning looks gracing their faces.

As Hermione, Remus and Sirius entered the common room two hours later, piled down with books on lycanthropy, they were greeted with a highly unusual sight.

James was running down the stairs that lead from the boys' dormitory with a pile of Quidditch related books. This was not so unusual, what did shock the trio was that when he made it downstairs he dumped them ungraciously on the floor in front of Lily Evans, who was trying desperately to fight her way out from a pile of books that Sirius recognised as both his and James'.

"New girlfriend?" Remus whispered to Sirius, amusedly.

"New protégé more like." Sirius replied.

Hermione grinned at the two of them before saying, "Hopefully both."

"Hi Mya!" Lily called, grinning from ear to ear like a kid presented with every toy they'd ever wanted.

"Hey Lily," Hermione replied laughing, "just doing some light reading!"

"I'm teaching her about Quidditch. Did you know Lily's never heard of the Wimbourne wasps!" James asked with a scandalized look.

"No I didn't, it's lucky you're here to educate her isn't it." Hermione joked before announcing that she was going to go upstairs and get a bit of quiet reading in before bed.

Sirius quickly pulled Hermione to one side, saying "before you go up, I just wanted to ask you, would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me?"

"Oh Sirius, I can't. I already said I'd go with Lily." Besides which I'm already spending more time with you than I should. she added silently.

"Well, in that case, I wanted to know. Would you go out with me?" Once again, a very nervous, unconfident look had settled on his face and Hermione looked at him in shock. No, don't ask me that! I can't. I'd love to but I just can't.

Searching desperately for an answer that wouldn't hurt him Hermione panicked and blurted out the first excuse that came into her head. "I've got a boyfriend." Oh good one Hermione. Now he's gonna think your some kind of tease. Especially after last night.

Sirius certainly hadn't been expecting that and replied angrily, "So what was last night about then? Huh? Just a bit of fun until you get to go back to your bloke?"

"NO! I mean, I didn't mean that. I don't have a boyfriend." Now Hermione and Sirius both stood there in silence for a second, highly confused.

"Then why…"

"What I mean is that I just came out of a really long relationship and I really don't think I could cope with having a boyfriend yet." There, that should do it. He can't argue with that can he.

"Well why didn't you just say so." Sirius asked, relieved and suddenly very understanding. "Of course if you've just broken up with someone you're gonna need some time to get over it. I promise I won't ask you again. You just let me know when you're ready. And we can still go to the Halloween ball, just not as a proper couple. It's fine."

"Okay, I'm sorry Sirius. I didn't mean to lead you on. I'm just confused."

"It's fine. I totally understand."

you reckon? Hermione thought sarcastically before saying, "I'm gonna go up to bed now okay?"

"Sure, go get some rest and I'll see you in the morning." With that, Sirius gave her a quick hug, muttered "goodnight Mya." And walked away towards where his friend was trying desperately to make Lily understand the basic use of 'Kronolov's defence'.


	5. First the Calm, Then the Storm

Chapter 5 - First the Calm, Then the Storm 

The next few weeks went by quietly. Hermione and Remus received an EE for their research project, naturally. James and Lily were getting on famously, which resulted in Lily wandering around the castle with a permanent grin stuck to her face. Remus seemed to have finally grown more comfortable around Hermione and they had at last become friends. Sirius made no more advances on her since the night he'd asked her out and Dumbledore had actually surprised the young witch with a brand new set of dress robes for the Halloween ball which was now only a few days away. Life was good.

Except for the fact that you're not supposed to be here at all Hermione thought as she contemplated how quiet things had been recently.

"What you thinking about?" Lily asked as she sat down next to her friend.

"Nothing much. Just missing home a bit."

"Oh, sorry Mya. I guess it must be so hard for you, being stuck here when all of your friends are over in the states." And your parents are dead Lily added silently, not wanting to bring up such a sad fact in the conversation.

"Well not all of my friends! I mean I've got you guys. But I do miss them terribly and it's starting to look like I may be here for longer than I'd expected." The girl replied sadly.

"But you all stay in school during term time don't you? I mean how come you didn't just stay there until your aunt and uncle could look after you?" Lily was slightly confused by this. Although she didn't want Mya to leave, she felt that she owed the girl a big favour for introducing her to James Potter and she wanted to figure out what would make her happy. If returning home would make her happy then that's what Lily would try to do.

"We don't stay during the holidays over there. The school closes. And the travelling back and forth with all my belongings so often would have been far too difficult. Dumbledore and I agreed that my moving here would be much easier." Hermione had planned this story months ago when she'd first arrived, but no one had bothered to ask before and now the story sounded ridiculous to her. Fortunately Lily seemed to believe her completely.

"How come none of your friends from home ever owl you?"

This question surprised Hermione and she grasped quickly for an excuse.

"Well, uhm, the thing is…er, my friends, uhm, they didn't exactly know I was going. I didn't have a chance to tell them. It all happened so fast. And they're probably not very happy about that fact." There, that seems fair. Of course now she'll think that my friends are pretty mean. Not that she'll ever meet them. As Hermione realised this she suddenly felt a rush of emotion. This wonderful girl, who had become a true friend to her, would die in just over a decade. It was so unfair. Why did she have to end up here of all times?

"Mya please don't cry! If they are mean enough to ignore you and not write then they're not worth worrying about."

Hermione looked up at Lily suddenly and felt the warm tears streaming down her face. She hadn't even realised that she'd been crying and now the person she was so sad for was trying to comfort her! Bloody hell, time travel is so confusing.

As the redhead beside her attempted to calm her down, muttering comforting words, Hermione simply replied, "I'm fine Lily, really, I'm just fine."

That night after dinner James came running over to Hermione in the common room. She had not spent as much time with James as she had the others. This was mostly due to the fact that he really made her miss Harry. But tonight he walked straight past all of his friends towards her yelling, "Mya, Mya, I really need to talk to you. Can we go somewhere private?" He added quietly.

Hermione looked into his deep brown eyes and saw pure panic. "Sure, we can go to the north tower. Do you have your cloak?"

With that the handsome brunette bombed it up the stairs to the boys room and a few seconds later she heard a whisper from the thin air beside her.

"Come on Mya, I've got it. Just act like you've left something in the library. Hurry."

Hermione gave a deep sigh I thought I was gonna have some time away from that bloody cloak! This is the second time I've 'not' seen it now.

"Lily!" She yelled over to the redhead who was studying quietly by the fire.

"Yeah?"

"I'm just going to the library, I think I left one of my books there, okay."

"Did you want me to come with you?" The redhead asked as she went to close her books.

"No it's fine, it shouldn't take too long to find it. And Snape's the prefect on duty tonight. At least that's what Remus said. No point us both getting in trouble if he turns up."

"Okay, see you later."

With that, Hermione moved over to the door and opened it slowly, taking her time to ensure that James made it out completely.

"Right, get under here then." Suddenly James' legs and waist appeared and Hermione moved up close to him as she felt the familiar cloak wrap around her.

"Don't say anything until we get there okay." He cautioned.

"Kay." The young witch murmured in reply. This better be important she added to herself.

After ten minutes and a near run in with Professor French, the incredibly mean Arithmancy teacher, They finally arrived at the top of North tower, the highest tower in the school. As she took the cloak off, Mya was flooded with memories of a similar night up here almost two months earlier, where she had shared the most amazing, passionate embrace with Sirius. Sighing at the brief memory, She turned to James, who had ungraciously deposited himself on the cold stone floor. Hermione sat down next to him and they rested for a few moments in complete silence. Finally Hermione decided that they had best hurry or they would have been absent from the common room for far too long.

"James?" She began quietly, "Why are we here? What's wrong?"

The boy beside her took a deep breathe before beginning.

"IwannaaskLilytogototheballwithmebuti'mworriedshe'llsaynoandifiguredmaybeyou couldfindoutifshelikesme?"

Hermione paused for a moment as she deciphered the rush of words that James had just nervously thrown at her.

"James."

"What?" He was incredibly jittery and this had unnerved the young time traveller.

"This isn't like you at all. Why are you so nervous. I mean, usually you're really, well, smooth. With girls I mean. Why is Lily any different?" Hermione knew the answer to this of course. But she really wanted to hear it from James. She couldn't exactly have a relationship here as she was probably already affecting the future and she didn't want to make the return to her own time any more difficult than it would already be. Due to this, she was forced to live any romance vicariously through her new friends.

"I don't know," James began slowly. "I mean, usually I'd just flirt like mad and then, after a few weeks, that'd be it. Over." He stopped again and Hermione found herself willing him to continue. Come on man, say it, say how special she is. Say how different she is.

"But Lily's different. She's not like the other girls I've dated. I want it all to be perfect. Just like she is."

Hermione was grinning like a maniac. Awww! Bless. Was all she could think.

"Every time I'm with her I…I'm just so happy, you know? She's perfect for me, I know that. Beautiful, intelligent, fun, a good flyer. I really have never met anyone like her and I'm actually scared that she won't like me like that!" He laughed bitterly at this thought. "I never get scared. And certainly not of girls. But, now I am. I really don't think I could cope if she said no."

Hermione smiled sweetly at the boy beside her before saying, "She won't say no. She won't turn you down. Bloody hell James can't you see that the girl's crazy about you! Last week she sat outside in the freezing cold and pouring rain to watch you practise for two hours. You don't do that if you just have friendly feelings for someone. I know some girls who wouldn't do that even if they were dating someone!" She added as Lavender and Parvati's faces appeared in her mind's eye.

"So you definitely think that she'll say yes?" James asked eagerly.

"I know it. Now can we go back because my bum is starting to freeze!"

Laughing deeply, James jumped up and helped Hermione off of the floor. Then they ran quickly down the stair to the ground floor. As they reached the bottom of the stairs, the cloak snagged against the banister and fell from the two Gryffindors. They giggled at this occurrence and Hermione moved to grab the cloak.

"Wait, Mya?" James said as his face adopted a serious tone.

Hermione turned to face him. "What?"

"I just wanted to say thanks, for being such a great friend." With this he moved to the girl before him and gave her a huge bear hug. "I really appreciate this. Thank you so much."

"It's fine." Hermione chuckled, enjoying the hug. For once the fact that James reminded her so much of Harry was not a bad thing. She could almost imagine that it was Harry who was hugging her, as he had done at the end of their second year.

The sound of a gasp came from behind them.

"Well, well. Two more Gryffindors out after hours."

James and Hermione turned quickly to discover Snape standing there. They then noticed someone slowly backing away behind him. Lily!

Hermione then realised that her and James were still mid hug and judging by Snape's sneer, it did not look as innocent as it actually was.

"Lily" The two of them chorused as the young redhead turned and took off running at top speed. Hermione moved to run after her, only to find Snape restraining her.


	6. A Bundle of Misconceptions

Chapter 6 – A Bundle of Misconceptions 

"Where do you think you're going? We still have to decide upon a suitable punishment." He then leaned in closer and whispered into Hermione's ear "I did warn you about hanging out with trash like this Ms. Carlson. But being the tart that you are, I can't say I'm surprised."

Snape didn't even see the fist coming. Within half a second, Hermione was standing in shock, nursing a very sore hand, whilst staring at a quite unconscious Snape.

"Not again, I hit him again. Oh my god, I'm so in trouble, oh my god, I did it again, why do I keep doing that. It's Harry's fault. I never would have done that before. Not before I met him. It's all Harry's fault."

James put his hand gently on Hermione's arm, she jumped at the contact, having forgotten that he was even there.

"Mya, calm down, it's fine. A Simple memory charm. No problem, never happened."

James then turned, glanced up and down the hall and muttered "Obliviate"

Hermione gasped, "James, how do you know that was right? You could have just wiped his whole memory."

"Nope." The wizard replied. "Not a chance. I happen to be really good at charms. Just don't mention it to anyone. We're not supposed to use that. Not really."

Hermione nodded numbly. Unable to process the events of the past few minutes. Punching Snape, then having his memory erased. Hugging James and Lily seeing. The hurt look in the redhead's deep green eyes as she assumed…

"Lily!" Hermione cried.

James looked up at her as he realised what she was thinking.

"We have to stop her, tell her the truth, before…"

"…Sirius." Hermione concluded. Although she had nothing more than a friendship with Sirius, she knew that he still liked her. He had said that he would wait until she was ready for a relationship and she'd promised that he would be the first to know. If he thought that she and James were… He would be so hurt. Hermione couldn't stand that thought.

"We have to hurry." She yelled as they both took off running towards the common room.

"The cloak!" James remembered. He returned quickly to the stairwell and left again just as Snape was waking up.

What the hell am I doing on the floor the prefect thought in confusion.

As the two Gryffindors arrived back at Gryffindor tower they burst through the door to be greeted with complete silence and the accusing stares of Lily, Sirius, Peter and Remus. Lily looked devastated, tears had streaked down her eyes and Peter had one arm around her back as he soothingly stroked her upper arm.

Sirius was sat next to Remus with a strange look on his face that resembled disbelief. As Sirius rose, so did his friend. He turned to Remus and gestured for him to sit back down.

Slowly the young man walked over to the 'couple' in front of him. He spoke with forced calm.

"Mya. I think it would be better if we didn't go to the Halloween ball together. James. I won't be coming into town with you guys this weekend. Good night."

And with that the quiet teenager turned and slowly walked towards the stairs.

Suddenly there was a burst of conversation as everyone in the room began yelling. Accusations and explanations flew everywhere. In all of the noise Hermione ran over to Sirius' retreating figure.

"It's nothing like what you think."

Sirius didn't even turn. He just replied bitterly, "To be honest Mya. I really don't give a shit."

Hermione reeled. She felt as though she'd been slapped in the face. As she watched Sirius walk up the stairs she collapsed to the floor, tears streaming down her eyes. This was a man that she respected so much, and he hated her. How would this effect the future? The thought suddenly appeared in her head and she realised that if he hated her now, how would he feel in twenty-odd years when he discovered that she'd been lying to him the whole time. And now Lily hated her as well. The only true friend that she had here and they'd hurt her. As she dimly heard James and Lily yelling at each other in the background, the tears fell harder and faster than Hermione had thought possible. It had all gone wrong.

Suddenly a strong set of arms lifted her from the floor and carried her out of the common room door.

Hermione looked up at the owner of those arms.

"Remus?"

"Come on. Just round the corner here. There's a room that could be quite useful."

With that he put her down and, holding one hand tightly, he lead her down the hall and around the corner, into a large, empty room.

Closing the door Remus explained, "This used to be the potions classroom for a while, when it was taught by Professor Casing, She was head of Hufflepuff a few years back. Then when Professor Hackett turned up, he insisted that he would only teach in the dungeon. It's been empty for the last four years."

"Why are we here?" Hermione sniffed, as she brushed the last of the tears away roughly with the back of her hand.

"Because you look a state and you aren't going to be able to calm down with all the yelling going on in there. Besides, from how Lily tells it, you've already been in trouble once tonight, and the volume they're at it won't be long till McGonagall turns up and starts distributing detentions."

Hermione gave a weak laugh at that. Then she asked, "But why do you care?"

"Because despite evidence to the contrary, I actually like you. You're smart and funny. Plus you stick up for yourself. I am sorry that I yelled at you that time. I couldn't help it. I just got so angry when Snape called you… that. I actually like spending time with you. But you're not like most of the other girls here. I wasn't sure how to act around you."

"You just have to act like you do around the other boys."

"Okay." He replied smiling kindly at her.

They stood in silence for a moment.

"There's nothing between me and James." Hermione began quietly. "We were just talking. He needed to ask my advice and the hug was just a friendly thank you type hug."

"Well I know that. James is obviously mad about Lily. I've never known him to wait so long before making a move on a girl. But Lily is insistent that the look on your face was one of pure happiness."

"That's just because he reminds me so much of my best friend back home!"

"Shh!" Remus whispered cautiously. "You don't need to tell me that. You need to tell her. But wait until tomorrow. Everyone's too hyped up tonight."

They were silent again. Hermione sat down slowly on the floor, leaning against the wall. Remus sat in front, facing her.

"Well, looks like I'm going stag next weekend!" She said with a forced lightness in her tone.

Remus chuckled. Typical girl he thought, amused. After everything that's happened tonight and she's thinking about a ball!

"I wouldn't worry about it too much." He said comfortingly. "I'm going stag as well. So is Peter. How about we both go with you? Kind of a buy one get one free thing?"

"So now I have to pay for someone to go with me!" Hermione replied with mock-sincerity, a cheeky grin appearing on her face.

"Well if you will insist on trying to go with all of the men in school." Remus joked back.

"What happened to that Sarah girl you were gonna ask?"

"Already going with Robert Havers."

"Well makes sense, he is cuter than you."

"He is not!"

Hermione and Remus grinned at each other and they continued their conversation quietly for over two hours. Hermione discovered that Remus was far from the sullen teen she had come to know that term. She finally had someone she could not only joke with, but also have serious conversation with.

He was easily as avid a reader as Hermione, he had even once read a muggle book called The Lord of the Rings. Discovering that this was one of her favourites they had discussed the book at length and when Remus asked if she would recommend some other muggle writers, Mya promised to make him a list the next day and in return Remus promised to point out the best witch and wizard fantasy authors in the library.

Finally they decided that it was safe to return to the common room. Remus said goodnight and Hermione managed to fall asleep with the first real smile she'd had for months plastered on her face.


	7. Repercussions and Reconciliations

Chapter 7 – Repercussions and Reconciliations 

The next morning breakfast was an incredibly tense affair. While the group still sat together, they were all seated in an order that the rest of Gryffindor considered to be, peculiar at best. Hermione and Remus were sat together, chatting excitedly about a trip to the library as though they had been best friends for years. James was sat opposite Hermione next to Peter, who in turn was placed next to Lily and then finally, Sirius sat next to the young redhead that he had hardly ever spoken to.

When Hermione had first arrived at the table, she attempted to catch Sirius' attention with a pleading look. He was most definitely _not_ over the previous night's revelations. James gave the time traveller a quick smile before returning to his previous task of staring longingly at the third year sat near him.

But Remus and Mya were now getting along like a house on fire.

This was what most confused the rest of the house.

They were not so surprised by the concept of Remus talking excitedly and joking about. However, he had quickly become known as the one member of the group Mya spent the least time with. Everyone had assumed that they simply had nothing in common, an assumption that was being disproved at that very moment.

As the group left the table and walked quietly out of the great hall, Sirius glanced angrily at Remus and Mya before muttering to James,

"Looks like she's already moved on. Guess I'm not the only one going stag to the ball now." With that, the suddenly quiet teenager hurried ahead of the group towards the dungeon.

Potions with the Slytherins, great. What is this, some kind of Hogwarts tradition? Hermione thought bitterly as she noticed Snape stroll arrogantly through the door, knocking into a quiet young Gryffindor called Juliet on the way to his seat.

As she approached the obviously Gryffindor-side of the room, Hermione looked around at everyone nervously. James was sat with Peter and there were two vacant seats. Next to Sirius and Remus.

"Well hurry up and sit down Mya, Hackett will be here any minute. Don't want you getting into any more drama do we?" Remus joked, attempting to draw the neglected looking girl's eyes away from his friend's glares.

"Thank you." Hermione whispered as she slipped into the seat beside him.

"No problem." He replied just as quietly as the bitter looking, incredibly pale, fifty year old professor stormed in, a foul glare set upon his features.

Potions was not enjoyably. Hermione had believed that it was simply that Snape taught it, but it now was apparent that any potions professor was automatically a cruel, prejudiced wanker.

When she voiced this belief to Remus after class he laughed loudly and deeply.

"Talk about hitting the nail right on the head" He said as he chuckled at her fairly typical observation.

They barely noticed the sad brunette in front of them, who was rather uncharacteristically scowling at the sound of that laugh. They were totally unaware of the thoughts running through Sirius' mind. The thoughts of jealousy. He just couldn't work it out. He always managed to get the girls, whereas Remus was seen as the quiet one. The moment he'd seen Mya he'd decided that he would get her. And it hadn't worked.

But now you don't stand a chance. It's so obvious that she's not the kind of girl to fall for that stuff. The thoughts flowed through his head and, violently sniffing back the tears that threatened to spring from his eyes, Sirius vowed that he would stop being so bloody stupid. He knew James would never do that. Hell, he even doubted that Mya had set out to hurt him. And he'd be damned if he was gonna let his pride get in the way of his closest friendships.

Remus grinned at Mya as they both entered the DADA classroom together. As he looked at her he noticed the smile on her face became fixed. Following her look across the room he was greeted with what he considered to be a wonderful sight. Sirius did nothing more than make eye contacted with the girl and gesture to the chair next to him. But Remus knew that this simple display was just what Mya needed.

"Go on then." He whispered to her as he took a seat next to Georgia Wood.

As Hermione sat carefully in the offered seat she looked cautiously at Sirius before offering a weak 'hi!'.

"I'm sorry" they both blurted out at the same time.

"No Sirius really, I'm… I should never… I didn't…"

"Stop." Sirius interrupted her. "I'm sorry. I should have trusted you. Besides, even if you had. Which I know you didn't." he hastened to add as Hermione opened her mouth once more. "Even if you had it would have been none of my business. Besides I trust you and James and I know that if it had been what Lily said, then you guys would have told me. Please, can we just pretend that it never happened. Can we be friends again?" As he finished Sirius gave Hermione a desperate look that she couldn't resist had she wanted to.

"Of course we can." She began quietly, "But I could do with your help with something. If you wouldn't mind."

Sirius grinned, suddenly at ease, replying, "What do you need?"

Hermione grinned before leaning her head towards Sirius' and she began to whisper to him the plan that was forming in her mind. "Well, I have this idea…"

The next few days flew past until the ball was upon them. Hermione and Sirius' newfound friendship seemed, to the others, to have flown past even quicker though. By the end of lunch on the day that they seemed to have reconciled.

Hermione made an incredibly fuss at lunch. Both of them had. There was screaming, yelling, crying and accusations had flown from them faster than a snitch. Remus seemed to take the argument all in his stride and although most of his friends were still not talking to each other, he was surprisingly calm.

As Mya had decided to invite James to the ball, everyone assumed this was a tactic to piss off Sirius. Remus asked Georgia Wood and, in an act strongly resembling retaliation, Sirius Black had asked Lily Evans. Shockingly, she'd accepted.

As Hermione and James entered the hall, followed by Remus and Georgia, Sirius' eyes were automatically drawn to her, the deep red dress robes looked amazing on her whilst her hair was held by about a zillion pins to the top of her head, leaving only a few wisps of hair escaping. She would have looked truly elegant, if it weren't for the cheeky wink she tossed him as both of their partners were busy examining the decorations and the refreshment table.

Throughout the evening, all the students seemed to be having a fabulous time. As the final dance was announced at midnight, Hermione dragged James onto the dance floor, insisting that the refreshment table would still be there in five minutes.

On the other side of the hall Sirius noted the move made by Mya. He turned to his somewhat forlorn date and said, smouldering with charisma, "Lily, have I mentioned how beautiful you look tonight?"

The younger girl looked slightly shocked, fairly embarrassed and extremely flattered at the compliment.

"Would you do me the honour of dancing with me?" He requested, praying silently to every god whose name he could remember that she'd say yes.

"I'd…I'd love to, Sirius" Lily replied in a confused tone.

About a minute later the two 'couples' passed each other and once more Hermione winked at Sirius.

Suddenly, with no warning, Sirius grabbed Lily by the shoulders in a way that looked, though was not, rough and he dealt her what he hoped looked like an incredibly passionate kiss. Just at that moment Hermione quickly turned herself and James, so that her dance partner was now facing the scene being created behind her.

In an instant Hermione was stood on her own in the middle of the dance floor, Sirius was laid out on the floor with a rather bloody nose and James was running his hands all over Lily's face, murmuring something about being an idiot and never once thinking of another woman since he'd met her.

Lily was officially in heaven. Believing James instantly she listened to him ramble on as she stood staring into his deep brown eyes.

"Mya, a little help if you don't mind."

Hermione tore her eyes away and rushed over to Sirius, helping him up she said, in a loud squeaking voice, "Sirius it worked. You are the best. Are you okay."

Apparently James had, despite his ramblings, heard Hermione's exclamation. He stormed over to the two of them and asked, in an incredibly tense tone, "Did you two plan this?"

The co-conspirators glanced guiltily at each other before looking nervously at James. "Yes." They mumbled together.

A long pause passed as James glared sternly at them. Then he broke out into an enormous grin and threw his arms around his two friends in a huge bear hug.

"Thank you for showing me how bloody stupid I was." He said emotionally.

"I'd like to get my thanks in on that one too." Lily piped up from behind the Quidditch star.

"And I'll give my thanks when this soppy little scene has ended." A voice struggled to say through the gales of laughter that were racking his body.

"Remus." Hermione said sternly to the giggling imbecile stood next to them.

"Mya." He replied, mocking the severity in her voice before a loud, strong voice called out from behind them, "Well if all the theatrics are over for this evening, I think perhaps it's time for everyone to return to their towers. And master Black, perhaps the hospital wing?" Dumbledore had an amused look on his face as he swept past the group towards his own rooms.

With that, the students all began to file out towards their beds. Apart from a few Gryffindors who were busy discussing the elaborate plan that had been cooked up and fabulously enacted over the previous week.

Finally, Hermione thought, Everything is as it should be.


	8. Butterfly Effect

Disclaimer: I keep wishing, but they're still not mine.

Chapter 8 – Butterfly Effect

The next morning, the whole school was awash with talk of the dramatics that had rounded off the ball. Hermione and Sirius were feeling incredibly pleased with themselves. And then Hermione received the message that she was to meet with the headmaster at the beginning of lunch.

All morning the young time traveller wandered around in a daze. Was it time? Had Dumbledore found a way to send her home? She had only been there a few weeks but the friendships forged so quickly felt incredibly strong and she feared that this may be the day. At breakfast she felt torn between who to sit with, but this time it wasn't Remus and Sirius that held her attentions. It was James and Lily. This might be the last day she'd ever see them. Throughout breakfast she was unusually quiet, worrying Remus and Sirius as she sat in silence, very closely watching the couple that were sat opposite her.

As they entered the DADA classroom, Sirius and Remus exchanged a quick look and Remus whisked Hermione to two seats at the very back of the classroom, while Sirius manoeuvred James to a table on the other side of the room, far out of earshot.

Hermione gasped as Remus grabbed her tightly around the waist and steered her into the seat.

"Remus! What are we doing all the way back here? You know I like to sit at the front!"

Remus stared seriously at the confused girl for a moment before explaining himself.

"Mya," he began softly, "We need to talk."

Hermione opened her mouth to speak only for Remus to put his hand over her mouth and shush her. He continued.

"You have been behaving really strangely since breakfast. Now me and Sirius, we're concerned."

Hermione gaped at Remus and felt the now familiar wave of sorrow wash over her. This time tomorrow she wouldn't be able to see Remus as he was now. All that would be left of this kind, joyful young man was a haggard teacher, with no friends and no one in his life except for an escaped convict. Suddenly the same longing that she had had since breakfast resurfaced, the same longing she had felt the first night they had all been together, when he had given her his very singular tour of the castle. She wanted to tell him everything, warn him of all that was set to happen over the next 27 years. She wanted desperately to save them all.

"I… I'm just very tired today."

But she couldn't tell them.

Remus stared at her for a long moment, just as he was about to speak again, Professor Bumbry wandered into the room and attempted to bring the class to attention.

Hermione took this opportunity to turn away from the young werewolf and focused all of her attention on the professor.

Remus sighed and, looking over at Sirius, he shook his head ever so slightly, admitting his failure to his friend.

By the time Hermione made it to the headmaster's office she was almost in tears. As Dumbledore looked at her he wondered what on earth could have her so upset.

"Miss Granger…" he began, only to be interrupted.

"Headmaster please, listen to me. If you're going to send me back now then there are things you have to know. Things about the future. I know that legally I can't tell any of these things, but if you had any idea of what is going to happen…"

"MISS GRANGER." Dumbledore interrupted before she could let loose the details she was about to divulge. "I'm not sending you back. I'm sorry if I gave you that impression but as of yet I am at a loss as to how such an action could be carried out."

Hermione looked at the headmaster in shock, relief and sorrow overcoming her and leaving her in complete confusion.

"I am sorry Miss Granger but I have actually asked you here to discuss how you are coping. I understand that there are things you would like to tell me. In fact, considering you are obviously a bright and reliable young woman, I have no doubts that such information may prevent some serious events from occurring in the future. However, we do not, cannot know what events may occur instead, nor can we tell whether these events would be more or less serious than those that you would like to prevent."

Hermione considered this for a moment. If she told Dumbledore what happened to James and Lily, then they wouldn't die at that point in time. But who could tell if they wouldn't die at a later point, and Harry with them. In fact, it was Harry that had weakened Voldemort so much, if that one event didn't occur, Voldemort may simply become more and more powerful so that by the time Hermione returned, everyone she loved could be in far more danger than they already were.

"I understand professor."

"I had hoped you would. Just as I hope that you understand that matchmaking schemes such as the one I bore witness to last night could also disrupt the timeline in an unforeseeable way."

Hermione looked up in confusion. "But professor, Lily and James, they were together in the future anyway."

"That may be, but are you aware of how they first came to be together? The struggles that they may have overcome before their relationship advanced to whatever it had in your time? Time is a far more complex thing than we could ever hope to understand. Have you ever heard of the butterfly effect Miss Granger?"

"The concept that a butterfly flapping its wings on one side of the world can cause a tidal wave on the other side?"

"Exactly. This is how time works. One simple act that means nothing at the time, such as one person taking a different route to class, could change the events of the future so much so that already the future you return to may be completely different to the one you left."

As Hermione thought about this, she realised that her mere presence in this time could mean that when she returned, if she returned, she may not recognise the world at all.

"Miss Granger." Dumbledore continued, "I do not wish to frighten you unnecessarily, but you must consider the possibility that if events are changed too greatly, you alone, could literally change the world. For your own sake please, be as careful as you can. Do not make waves."

"Yes professor. Thank you. I'd never, I didn't think that, I didn't know."

Dumbledore smiled warmly at Hermione, before rising to show her out of the room.

"Of course you didn't think of it that way. No one would. It's a hard concept to grasp. Now I must return to some incredibly boring paperwork. And I'm sure you have some as well, although you may call your paperwork homework?"

Offering a tiny smile, Hermione left the room and wandered back down to the library, to really look into time travel.

"There you are!" Remus cried, as he approached Hermione a few hours later in her hiding place at the back of the library.

She looked up in shock and quickly began shoving the pile of books around her back into the spaces that they had previously occupied.

"Hi Remus!" The young time-traveller said brightly. "Perfect timing, I'm all done now so you can walk me back to Gryffindor. I wonder how Lily and James are doing today. I can't believe that our plan actually worked. Aren't you glad, Remus, what's wrong?"

Remus frowned slightly at the flustered look on his friend's face. As she started to ramble he glanced at the book she was trying to subtly shove into her bag. "I'm fine, let's go then." He said, eyeing the babbling woman beside him suspiciously. Why would Mya need to borrow 'Titania Turner's Guide to Time Travel'


	9. Lonely This Christmas

Chapter 9 – Lonely this Christmas

"SIRIUS BLACK YOU COME BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!"

Hermione looked up from her Arithmancy text to see a very irate James running down the stairs, covered in a substance that looked suspiciously like honey. Just in front of him, Sirius shot past the couch where Hermione was sat, while behind him there was a rather large swarm of bees.

"Reverto ut northmanni." Hermione yelled, as she attempted to reverse whatever spell had been placed on the Chaser, who was now turning a rather stunning shade of bright red.

Instantly the honey disappeared, leaving the swarm of bees zipping around the room in confusion.

"Evanesco." Remus said, lazily flicking his wand towards the mass of creatures, never taking his eyes off of his reading. Hermione grinned at the action, noting that Remus took the occurrence totally in stride, as though he was more than used to such events.

With Christmas rapidly approaching, spirits were very high, particularly among the marauders, who'd decided amongst themselves that they needed to cause as much mayhem as possible before being separated for two weeks.

Hermione was not as excited as the rest of her classmates, instead she was dreading Christmas vacation, knowing that all of her friends would be returning home to spend time with their families, while she would be left at Hogwarts with one anti-social second year girl and two rowdy third year boys to keep her company. As she was reminded again of the lonely holiday that approached, she thought of Harry and Ron. This was not unusual, although as time wore on she had found herself thinking of her friends less each day.

She wondered what they would be doing this year. Would Ron stay at Hogwarts with Harry? Where they could run around, relatively unsupervised, sneaking out to Hogsmeade in the evenings. Or would Harry go to stay with the Weasleys, where they could all enjoy a real family Christmas, with a fire roaring, Christmas decorations, the twins playing pranks on everyone in sight. Mr Weasley talking Harry's ear off about eklectricity and Mrs Weasley making more food than they could possibly manage between the already large group.

"Mya… Mya are you alright?"

She looked up quickly, having lost herself in the images of her closest friends. Remus was crouched down next to her, a concerned look gracing his face.

"Of course I am, why?" she replied, confused by the worry in his eyes.

"Because normally when people are okay they don't sit there crying to themselves."

Hermione suddenly realised that warm tears were coating her cheeks. She quickly raised her hands and rubbed her face dry, turning a light pink as embarrassment overcame her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Remus asked softly, whispering so as not to attract attention from James, Sirius and Peter, (who were currently engaged in a bizarre version of wizard wrestling which seemed to involve James and Sirius competing over who could find the most amusing spell to hit Peter with, before he worked out how to pronounce the international wizard wrestling official safe word.)

Hermione smiled slightly, before replying. "I really am fine. I was just thinking about my friends back home. I wish I could see them again."

Remus stared thoughtfully at her for a moment. Hermione was just about to ask him what he was thinking when he jumped up, a decisive look on his face, and told her that he'd be back in a few minutes, he just needed to get a book from the library. Then he raced out of the portrait door, causing Sirius and James to freeze watching in bemusement as their friend disappeared. It was then that Peter managed to counter the various hexes placed on him and he returned the favour by placing the jellylegs curse on them.

As Hermione looked over at the two yelling boys, she put aside all thoughts of Harry and Ron and concentrated on giggling at the ridiculous friends that were in front of her.

"See ya Mya!"

"Bye Pete."

"Happy Christmas Mya."

"You too Robert."

"Mya are you sure you're gonna be okay?" Lily asked her for what seemed like the billionth time that day.

"I'll. Be. Fine." Hermione replied, trying desperately to push the younger girl towards the carriages waiting to take the students who were leaving for Christmas to the station.

"I really don't think my parents would mind having an extra person…"

"No." Hermione said decisively. "I refuse to impose myself on your parents. Now hurry up before you miss the coach and we both get stuck here!" She laughed as Lily did a funny little hopping motion between the carriages and her friend. "Oh and tell the boys I said goodbye. I barely saw them as they rushed past earlier!"

"Okay, have fun Mya." Lily yelled, having finally decided that she should really get on the coach, seeing as the last one was moving away from them. "HAPPY CHRISTMAS!"

"Happy Christmas!" Hermione yelled back, giggling as the redhead ran down the drive at top speed in an attempt to catch the coach.

Hermione stood there waving until the coach passed the gate and then continued to stand watching until it became a mere pinprick on the horizon. Slowly she turned and wandered back inside, preparing to spend her first Christmas away from family and friends.

When Hermione arrived back at Gryffindor tower she climbed through the portrait door, looked sadly around the empty common room and gave a long, lonely sigh. She could felt the boredom settling in already.

"That may well be the most depressing sigh I've ever heard." Said the big red chair that faced the fire. Now Hermione wasn't particularly shocked by the concept of furniture talking to her. Hell, the mirror in the girl's dorm had been 'bumped into' and 'accidentally' knocked over many times thanks to the rather rude comments that it was known to give out in the mornings.

What did surprise her was that this chair sounded extremely familiar for a chair that had, to her knowledge, never chosen to speak before.

She stared at the piece of furniture for a moment, trying to work out why it sounded so familiar to her, when a person stood up from the chair and turned to face her.

"REMUS!" She squealed, before remembering that she wasn't the kind of girl who squeals. Suddenly she realised something. "But if you're here, then that means you're not there."

Remus' eyes crinkled slightly as he stood grinning at the confused brunette, who was currently making some very bizarre hand gestures between himself and the door, whilst muttering something to herself. "I decided to stay here and keep you company." He replied, trying not to laugh at the confusion on Mya's face.

"REMUS LUPIN YOU GO HOME THIS INSTANT!"

The sudden change from befuddled to enraged took the werewolf by surprise and he actually took a couple of steps back. "Now Mya, let me explain first."

"What's there to explain? You are absolutely, positively, definitely not missing Christmas at your parents just so…"

"Silencio."

Hermione paused when she realised that, while her mouth was quite happily yelling at Remus, her voice didn't seem to be cooperating.

"My parents were given tickets for a week long trip to Italy for Christmas from my Granddad. They were going to cancel the trip so that I wouldn't be home alone, but when I realised that you were gonna be stuck here I owled them and told them to enjoy the holiday as I'd managed to make other arrangements."

Hermione looked abashed and mouthed 'I'm sorry' to him. Grinning victoriously Remus replied, "Now I have a really hard decision to make. Do I take the spell off now, or shall I wait until after Christmas? It will definitely be nice to have some peace and quiet around here. What with you being such a chatterbox an' all." Laughing again at the panicked look on Hermione's face, the joking boy allowed Hermione to speak again, but only after she'd silently promised not to yell at him once for the next two weeks.

Hermione smiled at the realisation that maybe she wouldn't have to spend the next two weeks alone and crying after all.

A/N: Wizard wrestling is one of the few sports to pass over to muggle society, though in a slightly different format. In wizard wrestling, the two opponents must use any legal spell to force their opponent to quit. The loser is the first to yell the official safe word 'suoitodilaipxecitsiligarfilacrepus'. The event takes place in a room with walls and windows that are impervious to magic to protect the audience from becoming caught up in the fight. Such precautions were put in place after 1376, when _Impono the Pointless_ decided that, after two hours of waiting for his opponent to quit, he would simply levitate the poor man's youngest child over a cage of lions kept in the corner of the auditorium.


	10. Jailbreak

Chapter 10 – Jailbreak

"Mya."

"Yeah?"

"What's with the sudden interest in time travel?"

Hermione felt her heart speed up as she realised what Remus had just asked her. The past few days they'd spent most of their time in the common room chatting about friends and family or reading. While she knew that she probably shouldn't read books on time travelling in front of the marauder, she honestly thought that he wouldn't notice. She didn't have a clue what books he was currently reading.

"Oh I just wondered. I guess most muggle-borns think of it at some point."

"Why?"

"Because for years we are brought up to believe that there are certain things that just can't be done. Then suddenly, one day, you find out that all of these impossible things aren't impossible after all. I just wondered how it all works."

She thought that was a pretty good explanation, considering it was all off the top of her head.

"Oh."

Remus didn't believe her. He had gotten to know a bit about Hermione in the past couple of months and she was not the type of girl to get caught up in pointless flights of fancy. If she read about something, it was for a reason. She'd even admitted that the only reason she read muggle fantasy fiction was to compare it to the wizarding world. But he couldn't just accuse her of lying. If she wanted to keep it secret that was her choice. After all, he hadn't exactly told her all of his secrets.

"So how is your mum doing?"

"Great. They love Italy. I just got an owl this morning. They've been there two days and have hardly stopped. They go out all day looking at all the old buildings and museums, and every evening they go out to this little restaurant."

"Is it really a good idea for them to be doing all that walking around?"

Remus looked at Hermione in confusion. "Why wouldn't it be good for them?"

"Doesn't it tire your mother out?"

"No. She's fine. Why would she not be?"

"Well considering 2 weeks ago you had to go home for two days to be with her, and the same a month before. I assumed that whatever illness she had was serious. Too serious to allow for an active holiday."

The werewolf paled at the realisation that he'd told Mya his mum was ill during the last full moon. He'd got his stories mixed up.

"Well at least she's better." Hermione added, sneaking a look at Remus. They'd become close over the past few weeks and she'd hoped that he might confide in her if she gave enough hints. Plus, she desperately wanted to move the focus away from her current choice of reading material.

Remus sat in silence for a few more minutes before closing his book, sick of rereading the same paragraph over and over without actually taking any of it in. He put the book down and sat watching Mya. Contemplating what to tell her.

"It's fairly obvious."

She said it very quietly, barely a whisper. It was almost as if she were trying to say it to him, without actually saying it to him.

"What is?"

Suddenly both students were aware that the comfortable, relaxed feeling in the room had been replaced with a great tension. Hermione looked up in surprise, she hadn't really been talking to him. But when she met his eyes she realised that they were about to have a very serious discussion. One that would risk their friendship, which was not something she was ready to lose. Especially as she had finally accepted that she was gonna be stuck here for a while. She decided to avoid this talk at all costs. It wasn't her place to trick him into telling her something he wasn't ready to tell. So raising her voice and adopting a tone that belied the serious thoughts whooshing around her head, she answered,

"It's fairly obvious that we are wasting our holiday reading and as much as I am enjoying having some time to relax, I think we should really be doing something, anything, that will get us up and moving around. I don't want the other lads accusing me of turning you into a bookworm behind their backs."

Remus visibly relaxed and grinned at her.

"Well come on then Mya, if you're so full of ideas, what should we do?"

Hermione thought quickly before announcing her plan.

"Jailbreak!" With that she jumped up, flung on her robe and grabbed Remus' robe and hand before pulling the startled boy out of the common room and sneaking down to the ground floor. She stage whispered to the highly amused brunette "Now we just need to make it out of the grounds without anyone seeing. Be Very, Very quiet!"

Remus fought back the laughter that was bubbling up at the sight of the usually sensible Mya suddenly acting like, for lack of a better description, James. Joining in the game, he made a quick decision and pulled Hermione over to the secret entrance to Honeydukes. Glancing around he opened the entrance and gently shoved the young witch into the opening.

Once they were a fair way through the tunnel, Hermione burst into laughter, joined soon after by Remus. Hermione hadn't felt like this since she'd arrived in 1973. It was almost as if Harry and Ron were with her, she would never have pulled a stunt like this without them before. But maybe in some way they were with her. Because she couldn't come up with another reason for her sudden uncharacteristic actions.

After a few minutes Remus lead Hermione out through the cellar of Honeydukes and they snuck out the front door before running into the street.

"Freedom!" Hermione giggled as she whirled around laughing in the pouring rain. Remus smiled happily at the excited girl before him, replying, "Freedom sure is a lot wetter and colder than I remember!"

"You're absolutely right! I think we need some butterbeer. Pronto!" Hermione smiled again, exhilarated by the sudden exercise and by getting out of the castle for a while.

"I think we'd best avoid The Three Broomsticks. If any of the professors are in there and we get caught we could be in serious trouble."

"The Hogs Head?" Hermione questioned, not totally certain that she really wanted to go into such a seedy establishment, but understanding that it was really their only other option.

"Sounds like a plan." Remus replied calmly, belying his own nervousness.

Quickly they walked towards the pub, taking a peek through the grimy window for any professors that may be inside, however unlikely the chance was.

As they walked into the pub, Hermione held Remus' arm tightly, not letting go until they'd purchased their drinks and seated themselves at a table in the very back of the bar.

"So… this place is nice." She said quietly.

Remus chuckled at the look on her face.

"Don't worry Mya, there's no-one else in here. We'll be fine."

They sat in companionable silence for a moment, taking in the 'décor'. Finally Hermione spoke again.

"Have you heard from the boys?" she asked, eager to hear what her friends were up to at home.

"James wrote to me yesterday. He's having a great time by the sounds of it. He keeps trying to find his mum and dad's present stash. Every year he tears the house apart looking for a glimpse of his presents, but every year he never finds more than one. And personally I reckon his mum leaves that one out to keep him happy."

Hermione laughed at that.

"Have you heard from any of your friends from home yet?" Remus asked, hoping for her sake that she had. None of the boys had asked but Lily had told James that Mya's friends hadn't owled her since she came to Hogwarts. He watched silently as her face adopted an almost mournful look. After a few moments pause the young Gryffindor spoke again, gently saying, "I'm sure they'll write eventually. It is Christmas after all, they're probably really busy with family stuff."

Hermione gave him a tiny smile, saying, "Thank you Remus. But it's fine really. I don't think I'll be hearing from them for a while, but I'm getting used to it. And it really helps having you and the others here. I doubt you'll ever realise quite how much you've helped me adjust. I'm almost scared to leave."

Remus choked on his drink, slammed the glass down to the table and stuttered. "L… l… leave! Why are you leaving? Mya when did this happen? Why didn't you tell me? Can't you stay here at Hogwarts?"

Hermione smiled gently, "I'm not leaving now you great prat! I just meant that eventually, when I do have to leave, I'm going to miss you all so much." There it was again. That ache in her stomach that threatened to break down all her carefully constructed barriers. The feeling that made her want to tell him everything, or burst into tears or even both. Her eyes began to burn with the strain of keeping them free of tears and her cheeks felt as though they were cracking from the constant smile she'd forced on her face.

Remus stared hopelessly at the girl in front of him. He could tell that she desperately wanted to tell him something. The unshed tears in her eyes moved him to reach across the table and hold her hand. He gently stroked her palm with his thumb, muttering comforting words, his whole being urging her to just let it go, let it out, get whatever was hurting her off her mind.

Hermione realised what was happening. Remus was staring deeply into her eyes, and she was drowning in his. His thumb smoothly caressing her palm. He leaned in slowly towards her…


	11. Changes

A/N: My Muse is all excited, so here's chapter 11 too.

Chapter 11 – Changes

Suddenly Hermione jumped up as if electrocuted.

Remus quickly recoiled, misinterpreting the look of worry on her face as one of fear and horror. "Mya…" he begun, planning to apologise for his actions, deny the obvious moment they had just shared, hell he'd even accuse the bartender of spiking their drinks if she would only sit down and forgive him his mistake.

"Remus I'm so sorry." She interrupted. "I shouldn't have, I mean. We can't, I can't." She realised that the words just wouldn't come. Then it hit her, the reason she couldn't get out of this situation was because she didn't want to. She had wanted Remus to kiss her, to hold her, to make this horrible nightmare disappear. But it could never happen. Her world had probably already changed from her simple existence in this time. And now she was flirting with the man who would become her teacher, her mentor. As these thoughts flooded her mind she suddenly felt dizzy, suffocated. Without another word the young witch bolted out of the pub into the fresh air and ran back to Hogwarts with all the speed she could muster.

Remus had searched all over the grounds, but he couldn't find Mya anywhere. As the night began to set in, his worry for the pretty brunette heightened, he desperately hoped that she had made it back to the castle by now.

He returned again to the common room, hoping against hope that she would have finally returned there. As he went to mutter the password he heard a strange sniffling noise, not completely unlike the sound of a girl crying, coming from the old Potions classroom.

Quietly he snuck round the corner, peered in through the door and sure enough, there was the woman he'd spent the past two hours hunting high and low for.

He walked into the classroom and said, "Mya, I'm so sorry. I don't know what happened. I know you like Sirius and that you're just not ready for a relationship with him yet. I overstepped my bounds in a huge way. Please, can we just pretend it never happened. Mya, Please?"

Hermione looked up at the boy in front of her and gave a weak smile, the effect of which was somewhat ruined by the tears streaming down her bright red cheeks. "Consider it forgotten." Was her hushed reply

But as the days moved on, neither one of the pair could truly forget that moment in The Hogs Head. Christmas came and went and gradually they worked their way back to a tentative friendship. The students all returned in the new year with Lily and the rest of the marauders none the wiser about what had go on that day.

A month passed and Sirius renewed his attempts to sway Mya's feelings towards him, although this time he took things slower, wary of rushing her into something she wasn't ready for. In fact, so out of character were his subtle displays of affection that Hermione barely noticed them. An accidental brushing of the hand, the offer of his last chocolate frog, studying with her in the library, to Hermione these were simply displays of friendship.

Remus was not so easily fooled. He watched on from the proverbial sidelines, anger and jealousy sweeping over him, only to give way to sorrow and self pity.

Valentine's day appeared out of nowhere and Sirius had a plan. Today was the day he would make his feelings clear to Mya. He wouldn't push, but he would let her know in no uncertain terms that he was still very interested.

Remus was pulled into the plan for the simple reason that James was busy planning his own day of 'shmaltzy, girly romantic stuff' that would sweep Lily off her feet even further than she had already been swept.

And that was how the werewolf came to be stuck in the potions classroom, hiding from professor Hackett, clutching a bottle of Tenlop essence, the vital ingredient to a potion Sirius had discovered that would prevent the drinker from feeling cold for up to four hours. Sirius planned to take Mya up to the top of the tallest tower for a night of stargazing and when she undoubtedly complained about the cold February air, he would surprise her with said potion. Sirius was particularly pleased with this plan because he was well aware of his reputation and wanted to show Mya that he wasn't going to use corny chat-up lines to try and win her over.

Remus stood in total silence, listening to check that the Professor had indeed left the classroom above and then began to make his way out.

Suddenly he was shoved back into the cupboard by a mass of brown hair and shushed as the sound of footsteps overhead reappeared. Remus and the mass of brown hair stood completely still, only to be filled with anxiety as they heard the thundering steps of what could only be Professor Hackett's first year potions class arriving.

"Mya!" Remus whispered as he finally placed the scent of the mass of hair in front of him. She turned around slowly, trying not to knock anything over in the tiny room.

"Remus! What are you doing here!" she whispered.

"Helping Sirius out with a… project. You?"

Hermione paused. She was actually hiding from Sirius, who seemed to have been following her around constantly all morning. Not that she could say that to Remus.

"Uh… same. Project, Lily though, is who I'm helping." She cursed herself as she heard the mess of words tumbling out of her mouth. She couldn't understand why he was making her so nervous. It wasn't like she hadn't seen him every day since the incident at Christmas.

Remus stood quietly, listening to the lesson going on above them. He felt something brush against his arm. Electricity shot through his body and he jumped back, shocked by the affect her touch had on him. Unfortunately, as he jumped back he nearly went flying into the shelf behind him. Hermione grabbed his arm to pull him back but in doing so she was merely pulled with him, twisting their bodies just enough to avoid the shelves and land on the floor.

Both students held their breathe, complete silence had taken over the room as they waited to see if the noise had been detected by the class.

Seconds that seemed more like hours passed and eventually they both figured it was safe to move. Hermione turned her head down towards Remus as he turned his up towards her. And they were caught.

As they stared into each other's eyes again, it was like déjà vu. Hermione was lost completely, with Remus struggling to form some kind of coherent thought. He felt her warm breathe on his cheek and suddenly he was lost with her.

It was slow at first. As if they both knew exactly what was about to happen, and while neither wanted to initiate it, neither could contemplate putting a stop to it. As their lips touched, Remus felt that same electricity again, coursing through his body. Hermione felt as though she'd never truly been alive before this moment.

The kiss began slowly, tenderly, but as their lips opened and their tongues met, all the sweetness disappeared. Suddenly a passion unlike anything either had experienced before swept over them. They couldn't be close enough to each other. Remus turned her gently so that they were laid side by side. And yet they never parted. His hands disappeared in her hair as hers grasped his back, holding him tightly to her like a lifeline. All thought gone, his hands gained a mind of their own, wandering down her back, she finally let go of him, only to push his cloak off of his shoulders urgently.

Then the door burst open.


End file.
